I have to say, I walked away from a church finance committee last night pretty proud of the folks I'm working alongside. Our group is in the process of planning for the stewardship campaign for this fall. I won't give away any of the campaign ideas quite yet (you'll just have to stay tuned to hear about them), but I will say that the church is good hands with these folks as leaders.
The reason for this is because of one of the most essential characteristics of leadership is the ability to see beyond what is in front of you. Part of this means having the guts to dream big and encourage others to see what you see too.
I sat in a room last night with the finance folks and the question came up about how much we wanted to challenge the congregation to grow in their giving to the church in the coming year. It was unanimous that everyone wanted the church to be stretched to think about giving as a spiritual practice (instead of just, y'all pledge please). And, everyone wanted me to teach and preach about how our financial gifts really give us the means to attempt even greater things for God in this place and grow in our journey with God as well.
There was no shying away from the fact that the amount we want to raise our budget in the coming year will be a difficult task, BUT the most faithful decision-- not because we are in a place struggling to pay our bills, but because we want to do MORE in mission and ministry. We know that God needs all of us to do our part to make this happen.
It was a gift to not be the one in the room to give the "let's have faith" talk, but to hear it coming from countless others. For me, it was a moment to celebrate because I feel this is just the beginning of the marvelous things God has in store for us as we look toward stewardship in 2009.
I'm getting excited about October, which is stewardship month, already! And, WPBC folks, you should too. I'm counting on the fact that with God's power working in us, we are going to see in front our eyes more than we could have ever asked for or imagined. Hold on folks, for this ride is going to be fun.
